[Comprehensive Book] A Rose for Catherine

This letter from Princess Charlotte to her is very neat and polite.Catherine guessed that maybe the letter was not written by Princess Charlotte herself, but was ghostwritten by a female officer next to her.After a polite greeting, she took a quick turn and invited her to a literary salon in London after Christmas.

Charlotte mentioned in her letter that one of her close friends, the Duchess of the Fitzroy family, held the salon.This literary salon is secretive and small, and only well-known female writers and ladies in their circle who are interested in literature are invited.

"... If possible, dear Catherine, I hope to see you at the salon. If you can bring some unpublished manuscripts, I think you will be the most attractive person of the day with your talents. Eye-catching gem..."

"...You don't have to worry about identity leaks, Sophia and I will take care of everything." Sophia is the name of the young lady from the Fitzroy family.

……

"My dear friend, I hope you will be present. I should be very glad then."

At the end of the letter, Charlotte emphasized again that she hoped that Catherine would be present on time.

Catherine quickly finished reading the letter, feeling agitated. She clutched the letter paper tightly in her palm, and could hardly hide the excitement in her eyes.

This is definitely an opportunity!

She refolded the letter and put it in the handbag she carried with her. She restrained her complacent expression a little and pushed open the bedroom door.

If she is going to participate in this salon, it is absolutely impossible to hide it from everyone in the family.No one would agree to let her go to London alone.That being the case, it is necessary to find a suitable excuse.

Catherine thought that she might need to ask Uncle and Aunt Gardner for help in this matter.

Catherine planned all the way, and finally decided on the wording before the carriage arrived at Longborn.When they got home, Mrs. Bennet ran out when she heard the noise.

"My little baby Lydia, mom misses you so much!" Mrs. Bennet first gave Lydia, who had just got off the carriage, a close hug, and then she was distracted by others.She was also very kind to see the Gardners.

Mr. Gardner has taken care of his two sisters since he was a child, otherwise the two ladies would not have been able to get a dowry of four or five thousand pounds from a father who was only a lawyer.This kind of care did not change much until the two sisters became adults and married for many years. Even because of the frequent visits of the nieces, the Gardners were more closely related to the Longbourne family than ordinary relatives.

When Mrs. Bennet saw them, she embraced them first, and then warmly called them into the house.When they went inside, there was already a guest in the room besides Mr. Bennet.

The young guest immediately greeted the ladies and gentlemen entering the room politely, with a gentle smile on his face.

Catherine and Elizabeth glanced at each other, wondering why he dared to come here?

After Catherine was puzzled, she belatedly remembered that she had only discussed the nature of Mr. Wickham with Elizabeth, but she did not remind others to stay away from him.After all, almost everyone she knew had nothing to do with Wickham.

Elizabeth only told Charlotte and Jane about this. She had the closest relationship with them, and Elizabeth was the first to tell them anything. Now there is another Catherine.

Catherine didn't care about Wickham, and Elizabeth didn't deliberately speak ill of people. In this way, they all forgot to remind the rest of the family not to make friends with this Mr. Wickham.

The consequence of this negligence was that Wickham paid a visit in the open and aboveboard, and was treated politely by the Bennets.

When the Gardners arrived, Wickham offered to take his leave.Mrs. Bennet hated such a handsome and well-mannered young man, and wanted to keep him for a light meal.Catherine saw that she had the idea of ​​keeping a guest, and immediately became anxious-she wished that a hypocritical person like Wickham, who was full of lies, would stay as far away from their family as possible.

Catherine gently reached out and tugged at Lydia's lock of hair, and gave her a wink.Lydia didn't understand, and blinked her eyes in a daze.

Catherine had no choice but to speak urgently before Mrs. Bennet: "Mom, we encountered some very interesting things in London, I wonder if you heard about it?"

It was a good start to a chat, and Lydia immediately shared her feat with Mrs. Bennet: "Mom, you must have no idea what I did in London! If you did, you'd be so proud of me!"

Mrs. Bennet had also been waiting for her good news, and now the joy in her eyes was overflowing: "My baby, could it be that Mr. Bright proposed to you? I knew he had this idea, I think You're right. Who wouldn't like a pretty girl like you?"

When Wickham heard the name "Brett", his eyes flickered slightly.None of the people present noticed his strangeness.

Mrs. Bennet devoted all her attention to her little daughter, and Mr. Bennet was more willing to chat with his wife and brother. The other ladies either hated him or didn't know him well. Now there is really no one to keep him.He had to leave quickly.

Lydia and Mrs. Bennet are still talking about Brett's marriage proposal. Lydia is dissatisfied: "Mom, how can you always think about him? I mean me! I made a big deal in London ! I even brought you a present!"

Lydia didn't have the consciousness to lower her voice. Mr. Bennet naturally heard her showing off, and looked at Mr. Gardner in surprise, wanting to get confirmation from him.Mr. Gardner nodded under his gaze: "Why don't we talk in the study."

The gentlemen went to the study, leaving Lydia to tell Mrs. Bennet her adventures in London.The two eldest ladies talked with Mrs. Gardiner, while Catherine handed the package to Mary and sat watching her unpack it.

Mary got four presents in total, a book from Catherine, a hat Lydia bought with her pay, and a Christmas present from the Gardners—a brand new one that had been in London for the last two years. The popular fountain pen, and the pearl necklace Brett sent. ①

Mary tried the pen, and the tip of the pen drew a long ink mark on the paper. The writing was much smoother than that of a quill pen. Even though it had to press the piston on the pen every time it wrote a paragraph, it was convenient enough.

"A great Christmas present."

Mary praised happily.

"Much more convenient than quills, but I hope they can improve them further. It would be better if you didn't have to press the piston so often."

Catherine, who used better fountain pens in her previous life, was still not satisfied with such a simple and low-end version of the pen, but Mary felt that it was enough. After all, although she read, she rarely needed a lot of pens to write, and it was enough for annotations.

"We've been using quill pens for hundreds of years, and now we have a water storage pen like this. Kitty, how can things develop in one step? By the time the pen you're talking about appears, it will probably be hundreds of years later." La."

Mary criticizes Catherine gravely for being insatiable.

Catherine sighed, "Okay, okay."

On the other hand, Bennet was delighted to hear that his little daughter managed a big business with the help of his brother: "In this way, you can have a large dowry and get married in a dignified manner. Lydia, With such a wealth of property, you must be able to find a family with good conditions."

Mrs. Bennet loves her little daughter, and she usually thinks that she is more than enough for a nobleman, but now she even thinks that she is worthy of a king and prince.

Nothing can spoil her good mood now.

Especially after Lydia and she mentioned Mr. Knightley.

"You said his brother lived in a part of London full of rich people? Then he might be very rich too? That's really unexpected." Mrs. Bennet muttered, "If that's the case, Kitty! Good luck will come."

Catherine, having a headache, explained to Mrs. Bennet: "Mother, I don't know him well! You must believe that he will never propose to me. You should stop thinking about him!"

Mrs. Bennet was dissatisfied: "You silly girl, what do you know?"

Catherine wanted to argue that at least she knew that Mr. Knightley really had no other thoughts about her, but she was afraid that Mrs. Bennet would be more attached to this matter, so she kept silent.

Soon after dinner, Mrs. Bennet had obtained from Mrs. Gardner some information about Mr. Knightley, which he had revealed during his visit to Gardner House.

Mr. Knightley had a manor in his parish, and it sounded like he still had a lot of land, so Mrs. Bennet had a perfect idea of ​​a son-in-law.

Mrs. Bennet said cheerfully that Catherine should go to London after Christmas, for Mr. Knightley's sake.It so happened that Mr. Knightley's sister-in-law invited her to visit her.

Elizabeth couldn't understand her mother's logic at all. She sat on the side feeling helpless and slightly angry for Catherine: "Mom, but we don't know her well at all? What reason do we have to rush to the door?"

Mrs. Bennet didn't want to talk to her, and turned to Catherine immediately: "Kitty, you will be willing, won't you? Oh, you are a good boy, and you will definitely take care of my fragile nerves."

Catherine smiled calmly: "I do plan to go to London after Christmas."

After she said this, she stopped talking. Elizabeth looked at her incredulously, and slowly recovered from her meaningful gaze.

Mrs. Bennet thought of nothing but pleasure.She got the result she wanted, and stopped bothering Catherine, and asked about Lydia's "big business". She asked her brother whether the partner was reliable, and then felt that Lydia could get it The benefits are too little.

Elizabeth and Catherine took this opportunity to sneak away and came to Catherine's room.

Catherine took the bronzing invitation from the drawer and handed it to her.

The author has something to say: [Fix a small bug, Mrs. Bennet and Mr. Gardner are brothers and sisters, and it was mistakenly written as brother and sister relationship before. 】

[After the exam tomorrow, try to see if you can write a double update. 】

①: The water storage pen is the predecessor of the fountain pen.At that time, this kind of pen needed to press the piston to write a paragraph because the ink was not flowing. In 1809, Britain issued a patent certificate for the water storage pen.